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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: kesaunders79 on Saturday 30 December 17 18:17 GMT (UK)
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Hi everyone
My Great Grandmothers brother has on his headstone that he was awarded the MM in 1916 but so far I have been unable to find anything about this let alone any record of service.
Would anyone have any ideas please as to how I can find out more?
He was James Coombes 13 Dec 1895 - 05 Sep 1952.
Many thanks for any help :)
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Do you know what regiment he served with?
A photo of his headstone and family portrait are on ancestry.co.uk
Photo: st Bartholomew's church
Category: Headstone
Attached To: James Coombes (1895-1952)
Photo: Coombes Brothers & Sisters
Category: Portrait
Description: Taken at one of their parents funeralsBack row L-R James%ehl% Alice Mary BillFront row L-RSusie Annie...
Attached To: James Coombes (1895-1952)
and 24 Life Stories for "james coombes" on livesofthefirstworldwar.org
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Hi chinapaddy
Thanks for your reply, yes the group photo on ancestry came from me originally and the headstone from my cousin.
I've not seen that website you sent the link for so i'll take a look thanks :)
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It looks like this was him - British Army, Devonshire Regiment, Private, #10212
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If you still have a Paid account with Ancestry they have Military records and Medal Cards online.
otherwise there are some people on this site who are excellent at finding Military records
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10212 Private J Coombes Devonshire Regiment was awarded the MM, published in the London Gazette of 8 December 1916.
May be possible to dig out more in due course. The LG does not have citations for Military Medals.
MaxD
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Oh fantastic :D How did you find that out?
Most grateful for any help.
Regards
Kieran
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You can search for it yourself. London gazette then go to WW1 notices.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29854/supplement/12043
This link should take you to the result, but you can replicate the search yourself.
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Thanks for that, any suggestions on how to find out why he received the MM?
Regards,
Kieran
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This explains all about the MM and the difficulty of finding citations. Two of our family received MM and we have the London Gazette entries but we haven't been able to find out anymore from operational diaries so have simply concluded as it says on the medal ' for bravery in the field.'
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/research-award-military-medal-mm/
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Candleflame has it in a nutshell. However, it is always worth having a look at the relevant war diaries some of which are better than others at recording recommendations by name.
James Coombes was in 8th Battalion Devons who fought in 20th Brigade in 7th Division. The list published in December 1916 was undoubtedly related to the many phases of the Battle of the Somme. 8 Devons were particularly prominent in the fighting in the first month (July 1916) http://www.keepmilitarymuseum.org/history/first+world+war/the+devonshire+regiment/the+eighth+and+ninth+battalions
The war diary for the battalion covering the period from arrival in France in July 1915 to when they went to Italy in 1917 is downloadable from the National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352412. It is on Ancestry if you have a sub. The period starting 1 July 1916 is where to begin I'd suggest
Military Museums, although they do not have service records, sometimes have details of men of the regiments awarded honours. Worth a quick e-mail to the Keep (link above).
MaxD